consul. He left Rome, joined his troops at Capua, got every thing in readiness, and shipping his men at Brundisium took them over to the opposite coast. He who in a few years returned victorious to Italy and trampled his enemies under foot, fled for his life from his fellow-citizens. There is no historian of this period who has attempted to explain the motives of Sulla's conduct, when he had an army which was devoted to him. Still we may see that he acted wisely and like a patriotic citizen. The enemy was master of Greece, and Italy might be attacked next. A civil war at home would weaken the Romans, and Italy might again see a formidable foreign host wasting her lands. If Sulla could defeat Mithridates and save Italy, he would be welcomed on his return by his fellow-citizens. Of course he foresaw that in his absence the opposite faction would prevail, and he knew how they would use their victory; but their triumph would only be for a time. He judged wisely both for the interests of Rome and his own. He left the civil broils behind, and deferred his vengeance to another day.

Sulla must have heard of the occupation of Asia by Mithridates before he sailed from Italy, and of his invasion of Greece. If the king had not been opposed by the naval force of the Rhodians, he might now have sent troops into the south of Italy to join the few confederates who were still in arms. Diodorus in his corrupted text states that the remaining confederate generals after Sulla had left Italy, and when affairs were in a disturbed state at Rome, attempted to seize Rhegium at the extremity of Italy, with the intention, if they captured the town, of transporting their troops into Sicily and securing this fertile island. If they had succeeded, the Romans might have had another war on their hands in a country from which they had derived great help in their contest with the revolted Italians. But the praetor of Sicily C. Norbanus got together a large force and made such vigorous preparation that the invasion was not attempted, and the last effort of the confederates ended in nothing.

CHAPTER XVIII.

C. MARIUS.

B.C. 88.

THE ship in which Marius embarked was carried southward along the coast of Italy. But the wind changed and blew from the sea with a great swell, and the storm became so violent that with difficulty the vessel was brought to shore at Circeii (Monte Circello). Marius had suffered from sickness, and the provisions were falling short. Accordingly he and his companions landed, and wandered about without any definite purpose. In this dreary country they met with a few herdsmen, who had nothing to give, but they knew Marius, and told him there were horsemen in those parts looking after him. He and his friends were suffering from want of food, but to save their lives they plunged into the forest, where they spent a wretched night. The next day hungry and desponding they continued their weary journey along the coast, encouraged by Marius whose hopes were sustained by an old prediction. When he was a boy he took an eagle's nest with seven young eagles in it; and the soothsayers predicted that he would attain the highest office seven times. Some people believed the story: others say that Marius told it to those who were with him, and that they believed what he said, though it was a fable, for an eagle has not more than two young ones at a time. However it was the universal belief that Marius in his greatest troubles clung to the hope that he should be consul the seventh time.

They were approaching Minturnae, a city of Campania on the Liris and near the coast, when they spied a troop of horse

riding towards them. near the shore, and the

Luckily two merchant vessels were fugitives swam to them. Granius got into a vessel which carried him to the island of Aenaria (Ischia). Marius was with difficulty kept above the water by two slaves and placed in the other vessel, while the horsemen from the shore were calling out to the sailors to throw him overboard. The men refused and set sail, but wishing to get rid of their dangerous charge, they came to anchor at the mouth of the Liris, where they advised Marius to land and to take some rest till the wind should spring up. He was carried to the shore and laid on the grass, not expecting what happened, for the sailors immediately went back to their ship and left him. In this low flat country there were no paths, and Marius with difficulty made his way through the swamp and ditches to the hut of an old man who lived in the marshes. The lonely wanderer entreated this poor fellow to save his life, and made great promises if he should escape from his pressing dangers. The man, who either knew Marius or suspected his rank, said that he could conceal him from his enemies, and taking him into the marsh he hid him in a hole near the river and covered him with reeds and grass. The pursuers were soon on the spot, and began to threaten the old man for concealing an enemy of the Romans. As the noise reached Marius in his hiding-place, he stripped off his clothes and threw himself into the water, but he was seized by the pursuers and dragged naked and covered with mud to the neighbouring town of Minturnae. Here he was lodged in the house of a woman who treated him kindly, while the magistrates were deliberating what they should do, for instructions had been sent to the authorities of every town to look for Marius and put him to death. Even in this extremity a good omen was not wanting, and it came from an ass. As Marius was approaching the woman's house, an ass ran out to drink at a spring: he stood and looked the Roman in the face boldly and briskly, and then with a loud bray sprang past him frisking with joy. From this sign Marius drew the conclusion that his safety would come from the sea, for the ass turned from him to the water.

The magistrates after much deliberation determined that Marius must die, but as none of the citizens would do the deed, a Gaul or Cimbrian, probably a slave, was sent to kill him. The fellow with a sword entered the room where Marius was lying. The place was dark, and the eyes of Marius seemed to flash fire. Rising from his bed as the assassin approached he called out, "Man, do you dare to kill Caius Marius ?” The terrified barbarian fled like a madman from the room crying out, "I cannot kill Caius Marius."

The magistrates now changed their mind. The terror of the Gaul caused general alarm, and there was compassion too for a man who had saved Italy from the barbarians. According to one story they let him go, and sent him off to ramble where he pleased, and so he finally escaped. The other story, which seems more probable, is that they put him on board a vessel, which was supplied by one Belaeus, who afterwards had a picture painted to represent the scene and dedicated it in the temple of Minturnae. However in some way Marius passed over to an island, which in Plutarch's narrative is Ischia, and there he found Granius and his friends. They all set sail for Africa, but on the voyage they put in at Eryx in the north-west angle of Sicily to get water. The Roman quaestor in that part was on the look-out, and he was near taking Marius when he landed. Marius continued his voyage to Africa, and reached the island Meninx, now Jerbah, which is in the smaller Syrtis and separated from the mainland by a narrow arm of the sea. In this fertile spot he would find supplies, and here he heard that his son and Cethegus another fugitive had escaped and were going to ask aid of Hiempsal, king of Numidia, who is supposed to have been a descendant of Massinissa. This news encouraged Marius to sail to the Roman province Africa, and he landed near Carthage. The governor, who is named Sextius or Sextilius, sent an officer to forbid Marius to set foot in the province, with a threat that he would be treated as an enemy, if he did not go away. Indignation choked the utterance of Marius, and he looked at the man steadily without saying a he was asked what answer he made to the governor's order.

word, until

With a deep groan he replied, "Tell him you have seen Caius Marius a fugitive sitting on the ruins of Carthage." Here we probably detect the legendary element in these romantic adventures of the old Roman. His flight was a theme for declamation in the age of rhetoric under the Empire. Juvenal half satirist and half declaimer speaks of Marius'

"Exile and prison, and Minturnae's marsh,

And bread at conquer'd Carthage meanly begg'd."

We may admit that Marius landed somewhere in the province Africa; but to produce effect, it was necessary that the place should be Carthage, and the effect would be heightened if he sued for alms like a beggar on the ruins of a city once the rival of Rome.

The king of Numidia treated young Marius and his companions with respect, but he always found some pretext for not letting them go, which made them suspect his motives. At last they did escape and by the help of a woman, as we read of Christian captives in Algiers in former days owing their deliverance to some fair heathen. Young Marius was a handsome man. One of the king's concubines who had seen him felt pity for his wretched condition, and pity became love. At first Marius rejected the woman's proposals, but as he saw no other way of getting out of the king's power, he accepted her proffered favours, and by her assistance with his friends he escaped to his father. The story does not say whether young Marius carried off the woman. He certainly ought to have taken her with him. The father and son now embarked in a fishing-boat and passed over to the island Cercina, which was no great distance from the mainland. They had only just set sail, when some of the king's horsemen reached the place where they had embarked.

The island Cercina is one of the Kerkennah, two low islands, one much larger than the other, and opposite to Sfax on the east coast of Tunis. The soil is fertile and the surrounding sea abounds in fish.

There are two narratives of the adventures of Marius,